What new dishes have you made recently, and how did it go?

Thanks BBB

Sorry that didn't work out for you, panzade. I'll try to post the "official" recipe when I get home, but it's tater tots then meat/soup/cheese/corn mix then onions (actually I only put those on near the end). The soup is diluted, half can of water to one of soup IIRC. I don't remember the temperature, but it does cook for a long time (about an hour).

We had something lite tonight:

Mahi Mahi with Mango-Papaya Salsa.

Calamity Jane -- Would you explain how you cooked that and how you made the salsa?


I made a quick meal a couple of nights ago that has always been a favorite with kids. If you were a gourmet, you could figure out long ways around every part of it... but if you like corndogs, this will seem like a gourmet meal.

My kids call this recipe "Chicken Packets"
(from the St. Nicholas --Our Lady of Perpetual Luncheons Auxillary)

Two tubes of Pillsbury crescent Rolls <sigh... OK, this is the worst>

Chicken Mix:
4 cups chicken -- canned OK, but I usually use the meat of a whole cooked chicken
6-8 oz. cream cheese
4-T butter
2-3 T finely minced onion
2 T minced fresh chives (the true gourmet touch!)
salt & pepper to taste

a few crushed croutons & a teeny bit of melted butter

Heat up the chicken mix on low to melt the cheese & butter.

Meanwhile, open the crescent rolls & smooth & separate each roll into four "squares" for a total of eight squares, two crescents per square. This is most easily done over waxed paper. Smoosh together the separations between the crescents as well as you can.

Spoon 1/8th of the warmed chicken mix into each square and pinch together so it looks nice and has a rounded packet like appearance. Lay on a cold, ungreased baking pan, sealed side down.

Put a bit of melted butter on the top of each and cover with the crushed croutons. (so fancy and helps to hide any crescent roll edges)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes. They'll be lightly browned. Serves 8 of modest appetite and 4 with more robust needs.
All you really need is a salad and dessert and
you're done, baby. Whew! Another dinner under your belt and the kids will love you and beg for more.

Any leftover packets should be refrigerated and can be eaten cold for lunch. <burp> Do not microwave them -- it ruins the texture.


Tonight I'm planning truly-homemade Butternut Squash Soup.

Looking in refrigerator...

there is some left over pasta sauce from night before last... it had some mushrooms sliced and sauteed in olive oil I have in a bottle with some crushed dried chili peppers, hot italian sausage, crumbled, and garlic added to that with, gasp, some miserable dried italian herb mix (cough) plus progresso crushed tomatoes, simmered.

and there is some fading fast broccolini, a new fangled veggie that looks pretty much like rapini to me. Maybe the word rape and rapini scares folks. Anyway, I'll throw away the fading tops and cut up the stems...

plus there's still another short lil sausage...she says, blinking...

and some fresh green ital parsley and some small bermuda onions...and a few more mushrooms, aging now.

and ricotta. But I'll skip the ricotta.


Well, who knows what I'll do. Will report back..

Things are becoming clearer.. there is a head of broccoli. Forgot about that. Fresher is better, but this isn't all that old.

I'll skip the tomato sauce and go with the onions and garlic and a smidge of anchovy... and lots of broccoli and rapini .. plus chili flakes. Yeah.

And mix it with penne rigate..

Oh sorry, I forgot to write down the receipe.

Mango
Papaya
Avocado
red Peppers
red Onion
all cut into little cubes, sprinkled with the juice of a fresh Lemon or
Orange and I cut up some Cilantro an mixed it into the Salsa als well.

The chicken pockets sound good Piffka. I think, little "CJane"
would like that too. Kids like chicken in any shape or form, and
frankly when I prepare, veal, lamb or duck, I always tell her it's
just chicken.

ossobuco, you always have a lot of goodies in your refrigerator.
I would never have italian saussage in my fridge unless I'd need
it for a specific receipe. No wonder you're whisking up such
good meals.

Calamity Jane -- that sounds so good. I've never made a salsa like that. You are inspiring me!

Yep, you'll find that Ossobuco has great ideas for "Italianated" foods. I might have sausage in my frig or freezer, but never anchovy!

I am planning to make a small turkey today and for that, my standard dressing has an Italian flavor. Besides using Italian bread crumbs -- especially those with a flavor, there will be garlic, onions, sausage, and sage, dried tomatoes, parmesan, pine nuts and whatever else appeals (apple chunks, bits of dried fruit, mushrooms).

Anybody have good ideas for how to keep dressing moist if the turkey is small? I've done a number of things: extra broth, added butter, bacon over the top (all of the above!). What do you think?

Good Morning Piffka!

Yeah, I see the kitchen as my chemistry lab I always try new
things: sometimes they turn out good and sometimes
they don't - trial and error, as they say!

I'm afraid, turkey is not my favorite food. Even on Thanksgiving we have either duck or goose. As for
your dressing (sounds yummy), I think you've done enough
to keep it moist. In the end, if it is still a bit dry, use some
good olive oil and mix it with the dressing.

I think Gala Apples are also very moist and best used
for this type of dressing.

Morning!
Kitchen as Chem. Lab. Yes. I know that feeling.

I saute the onions & vegies in olive oil, but hadn't thought of adding O.O. to the extra dressing. Thanks. It would give it a more Italian flavor.

Galas are the most moist? Hmmm, never noticed that. Isn't it great that we have a good variety to choose from? Unfortunately, I don't think I'll go to the store again and I only have Fujis and some G.Delicious. Which do you think between those? I was headed for the G.Delicious since they're getting a little old.


You don't like turkey??? Too dry?

I've never made goose or duck... I wuv them too much to eat them. I am a limited carnivore --

If it doesn't have a pet name, I'll eat it

Duck or goose just have more flavor than turkey.
Franky, I hate to stand in the kitchen for hours on end
and at the end, the turkey has very little flavor.

Yeah, I like the variety of apples too. Little CJane likes
Fuji and Gala, I like Granny Smith. Golden Delicious taste
somewhat bitter to me, I rarely buy them. Washington
apples are excellent and there is another variety that
is perfect for baking in the oven, I just forget the name tough.

My grandmother used to always bake apples for us kids
around the holiday season, and that smell brings back
so many fond memories, I can't get enough of it.

Have you all tried Honey Crisp apples? That was the only thing I wanted to take home from the bachelorette/shower I was at last week. We can only get them for a short period of time here. They're wonderful.


I've brought home some fish, clams, mushrooms, celery, onions, 3 types of potatoes - I'm going to make some kind of drizzly autumn seafood chowder out of these ingredients and whatever else I can find that seems to 'go'. Hmmmmmm, there must be some carrots and tomatoes around this house.

No, haven't seen them. Will keep my eye out..

So, that broccoli/ red onion/1 anchovy/chili pepper, oh, and some picholine olives, and pasta dish turned out fine. Tonight I am dumping the leftover mass into 5 egg yolks, 6 whites, and 5 1/2 eggshells of water, whisked, and hurling all that into a buttered glass pie plate and steaming....

made some new stuff for a little party that's going on as I type. A white bean dip to die for and a berry compote over angel food cake and topped with a mixture of mascarpone, lemon yogurt and honey. The creamy bit tastes like cheese cake. Mmmmmm.

Oooh... I was just wondering what to do with my mascarpone. Thanks, littlek.

I'm here though to post my old recipe for Granola, something I hadn't made for years 'til last summer when I was helping Mr.P & son get provisioned for a fishing trip.

They've asked for me to make it again (begged me ) and this morning is their lucky day! I'm in the midst of its middle baking period so I have time.

The original recipe is on a much-folded green piece of school paper and has to be more than 30 years old... something Mr.P got when he first went to college.

Eric Johnson's GRANOLA

3lbs. margarine
5 cups raw sugar (crossed out & replaced with 2 1/2 cups brown, 3 cups honey)
1 bottle vanilla extract (this must be a v. small bottle!)
20 cups oats (about 3 lbs) or equal portions oats, rye, groats
3 cups coconut
4 cups wheat germ
4 cups sunflower meats
2 1/2 cups sesame seed (crossed out)
....
combine margarine, sugar, salt (1 tsp.) vanilla extract... melt in skillet & pour over other ingredients
Bake 20 minutes at 425, then add fruits, nuts, etc.
----------------------------

I've changed all that...this is the 21st Century version... which is changed when needed to suit the pantry.

Melt 1 stick butter, add 1/2 c. molasses, 1/3 tsp. salt and pour over a mixture of:
5-6 cups oats
1 cup groats
1 cup coconut shreds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup brown sugar

If too dry looking, add canola oil, 1 tsp. at a time. (I added 4 teaspoons this morning.)

Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 325F, stirring every 5-10 minutes.

Mix with 1 cup walnuts
1 cup pecans
1 cup cashews
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Cool completely and store in jars or freezer bags.

Serve with milk or yougurt or use in baking.

That sounds really good.

I'm fooling around with eggplant caviar, so-called - am trying to recreate part of a dish my niece and I ate at a local good restaurant. Too simple, just evenly diced (1/4 inch) eggplant, yellow pepper, onion, zucchini, very little tomato, with a smidge, I think, a mere smidge, of oil. They were cooked, but only verrrry slightly. That went over hummus, over a thin crust of bread. Damn, that was good.

Anyway, I made a complete mess of my first try.

I've copied a bunch of eggplant caviar recipes off of the net, but none I saw, or had patience to see, were just this simple.

Edit, I may be mixing up the 'caviar' with another dish, in that I bet the restaurant version didn't have onion. We had a tasting menu, and there were a bunch of delicious small courses..

Osso
Coconut Shrimp recipe I just posted:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43205&highlight=

I made a Kahlua espresso chocolate mousse tart with a hazlenut crust that was delicious. I ended up eating the entire thing myself, tho, because my husband didn't care for the intensity of the flavors.
It was yummy.

Sigh, that sounds delicious...